Techmeme
November 5, 2023, 10:30 AM

Top News

xAI:
Elon Musk's xAI releases its AI model Grok, which it says surpasses other models in its compute class, including ChatGPT-3.5, to a “limited number” of US users  —  Grok is an AI modeled after the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, so intended to answer almost anything and, far harder, even suggest what questions to ask!
New York Times:
Sources: GM spent an average of $588M a quarter on Cruise in the past year, up 42% YoY, and staff intervened to assist Cruise's vehicles every 2.5 to five miles  —  Cruise has hired a law firm to investigate how it responded to regulators, as its cars sit idle and questions grow about its C.E.O.'s expansion plans.
TechCrunch:
Hands-on with Google's real-time scanning in Play Protect for sideloaded apps: it didn't restrict five predatory loan apps and two fake apps from installing  —  Here's our hands-on review of the new Android security feature  —  Android's in-built security engine Google Play Protect …
Mike Young / AIModels.fyi:
Researchers say AI models like GPT-4 respond with improved performance when prompted with emotional context, because of how such models handle nuanced prompts  —  Researchers show LLMs respond with improved performance when prompted with emotional context  —  In the grand narrative …
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Emails: X has begun work on an account handle marketplace for purchasing handles left unused, requesting a flat fee of $50K from potential buyers in some cases  —  Rumored to be in the works for the past year, the initiative appears to have begun rolling out recently, with email solicitations being sent to potential buyers.
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
A look at the disparity between Amazon's drone delivery claims and the mundane reality, as only some small objects are delivered in perfect weather conditions  —  Amazon's much-hyped drone project is dropping small objects on driveways.  Some customers are not sure what it delivers beyond minestrone.
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt:
NFT marketplace Magic Eden and Yuga Labs plan to launch an Ethereum platform that will be “contractually obligated” to honor creator royalties on NFT sales  —  Magic Eden's new Ethereum NFT marketplace will be “contractually obligated” to pay royalties.  What does that mean for traders?
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Okta's autopsy report on its support system breach understated the role of a badly configured service account, the biggest contributing factor for the breach  —  If a transgression by a single employee breaches your network, you're doing it wrong.  —  Identity and authentication management provider Okta …
Akinobu Iwasawa / Nikkei Asia:
Data: as of August 2023, IBM had 6,363 cybersecurity patents, followed by Huawei with 5,735 and Tencent with 4,803; six of the top 10 companies were Chinese  —  Chinese companies account for 6 of top 10 in field while IBM remains No. 1  —  Chinese companies have made headway …

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Featured Podcasts

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'You're Going to Have the Niggles', With Christina Warren
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
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Big Technology Podcast:
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The Ezra Klein Show: How Fast Will A.I. Agents Rip Through the Economy?
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More News

Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Alex Cranz / The Verge:
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Gabor Cselle / Gabor Cselle on Medium:
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt: